Amplats, Impala and Lonmin, the third-largest producer, are struggling with a strike by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, which is seeking more than double basic monthly wages for the lowest-paid underground workers to R12 500.
The walkout is costing the industry about $18-million a day in lost revenue, according to the South African Chamber of Mines lobby. The strike began on January 23.

Amplats reported earnings of R5.56 a share for 2013 on February 3 after a loss of R5.62 a year before. It produced 2.3-million refined ounces of platinum.

Impala's profit declined by 52% in fiscal 2013 to R3.30 a share. Goodlace will get no adjustment to his pay in 2014, and Griffith a 6% increase on his basic salary last year of R6.7-million.

The total pay of Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara was R12.9-million in the three months ended September, according to the company’s annual report. Magara was hired as the replacement for Ian Farmer, the previous chief, as of July 1 [2013].

Resume talksNegotiators for producers will resume talks on Thursday at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to try to end the strike after an offer of a pay increase of as much as 9% was rejected by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

Amplats last week told strikers they've lost more pay in three weeks than potential gains from higher wages.

The lowest paid would lose R4 700 of wages in the three weeks, the company said in an email to workers on February 5. Back-dated pay from July 1 last year, when the previous wage deal expired, would be R4 244 under Amplat’s offer, it said. "The sooner the strike is over, the better in order to avoid further financial losses," Amplats wrote in the email. – Bloomberg